The space station was still the familiar one she knew, and the staff were the same people she recognized.
Yet, the appearance of everyone made Asta feel completely alienated.
Every staff member she could see, whether on their faces or hands, was covered in messy, scribbled patterns—like a group of painted cats, or as if they had been vandalized by some abstract artist.
“Ms.
Mare, your face…” Asta instinctively called out to a passing staff member, trying to point out the scribbles on her face, but she was utterly ignored.
The woman didn’t even glance sideways, completely ignoring her shouts as she walked past.
“Stop yelling.
I told you earlier these are unconscious NPCs.
Believe me now?”
“Did you…
do all this?” Asta pointed at their faces, looking at Lin Li with a strange expression.
“Got bored this morning, just doodled for fun.” Lin Li shrugged.
“And don’t look at me like I’m some pervert.
I’m not interested in these plain-looking ordinary girls.
Didn’t do anything to them.”
If you’re not interested in plain ones, what about pretty ones?
Asta didn’t voice this question aloud.
She thought of the beautiful woman lying in her bed, and the moment she woke up when Lin Li touched her foot.
Some things didn’t need asking to know what would happen.
Forget it, might as well pretend not to know.
There’s nothing she could do about him anyway, and dwelling on those thoughts would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Unconsciously, Asta was slowly beginning to adapt to these bizarre situations.
Holding Lin Li’s hand, they wandered around the Master Control Zone before heading toward the cafeteria.
During this time, Asta tried communicating with different people, but without exception, she was completely ignored.
These NPCs weren’t silent—they had fixed lines they’d mechanically repeat.
This lack of response gave Asta an indescribable feeling of suffocation!
Her gaze toward Lin Li unconsciously softened.
“You…
must be very lonely, right?”
She was a kind girl.
Even though Lin Li had done something terrible earlier, the thought of him living in such an environment for who knows how long still stirred sympathy within her.
This place seemed bustling with people, but it was all false prosperity.
Only he remained alone in his solitude.
This taste of loneliness was unpleasant.
From the messy graffiti on the staff members, one could see Lin Li’s inner turmoil might not be calm.
She had only experienced it for a few minutes and already felt suffocated and oppressed.
How much longer had this smiling boy been here?
Certainly more than just a few minutes.
His earlier behavior toward her…
seemed slightly understandable now.
If it were me, I might have gone mad already?
Asta couldn’t help but recall the fleeting excitement on Lin Li’s face when she first woke up.
Was that his truest self?
Lin Li reached out and ruffled her hair, smiling.
“Don’t I have you here to keep me company now?”
“Who wants to keep you company, you—” Asta paused, swallowing the word “bastard” that almost escaped her lips.
Then a new worry struck her: “I won’t be trapped here too, will I?”
Sympathy was one thing, but being trapped here to keep Lin Li company was definitely not something she wanted.
At most…
at most she could occasionally come chat with him.
“Who knows!
But since you’re already here, you’ll have to cooperate with my research!” “Research what?!” Asta shuddered instinctively, immediately on guard.
“Don’t look at me like that.
Let me remind you again—disrespecting me will have consequences.” Lin Li smiled at her.
“Don’t treat me like a pervert.”
Asta turned her head away, but couldn’t help thinking to herself: With what you did earlier, aren’t you already perverted enough?
“Now you say you want to cooperate with your research, who knows what ulterior motives you have?”
But her vigilance actually didn’t serve much purpose, because she couldn’t resist.
In the end, Lin Li still dragged her to the space station cafeteria, using Asta’s meal card to get two portions of the station chief’s deluxe set meal.
The two ate while chatting.
“First, tell me what you were doing before coming to this world, and if anything special happened.” “Um, nothing particularly special, I was sleeping…” Asta briefly recounted what happened before her nap.
Through Asta’s account, Lin Li figured out how she came to this world.
“Hmm…
fell asleep during the nap, and when I woke up, I saw you.
It really feels a bit like a dream world.
I have a guess—maybe when you fall asleep in this world, you’ll return to the real world.”
“You mean I won’t be trapped here?” The girl’s face lit up with joy, but then she felt it might not be appropriate to appear so delighted in front of Lin Li, so she quietly reined in her smile.
Before figuring out what kind of person Lin Li was, Asta’s principle was to avoid angering him as much as possible.
“If you want to laugh, just laugh!
Don’t be so cautious!” Lin Li shot her an annoyed glare.
“I’m not that petty.” “Um…
I wasn’t!” Asta instinctively shook her head, her flustered appearance rather adorable.
“Don’t celebrate too soon either.
These are all guesses.
We’ll only know after testing it out later.
Before that, we still have some other questions to clarify.”
“What questions?”
Asta blinked.
Lin Li’s attitude was quite gentle, which eased her guard considerably.
“For example, whether influences from the real world are brought into the game world.
Think back and see if there are any noteworthy details.”
“Speaking of details, I’ve been working a lot of overtime these past few days, which left my body quite tired and gave me a bit of a headache.
So I skipped lunch and went straight to my nap.” “Does your head still hurt now?”
“A little.” Asta nodded.
Although not as obvious as before sleeping, she did vaguely feel a slight headache.
“Hmm, that’s a noteworthy detail.
Influences from the real world are indeed brought here.
After you return, pay attention to your physical condition and see if there are any changes.” Lin Li frowned in thought for a moment, then asked:
“By the way, that gun in the bedside drawer—it exists in the real world too, right?”
“It exists, and it’s placed in exactly the same spot.” Mentioning the gun, Asta couldn’t help but think of the earlier punishment, her fair face turning pink again.
“That’s interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” “Look over there—”
Asta followed the direction Lin Li pointed and saw a young female staff member nearby, completely naked without even underwear, sitting there eating calmly and naturally.
There were no other men in the cafeteria besides Lin Li at the moment.
Lin Li had used the [Appearance] function to remove her outer clothing.
“You…!
Pervert!” Such an embarrassing scene startled Asta, and she quickly turned her head away.
“Heh, I only removed her outer clothes.
The underwear wasn’t removed by me—she simply wasn’t wearing any to begin with.”
“From the existence of the pistol, it seems this game world might be a 100% replication of the real world.
In that case, in the real world, your employee here has some rather unique preferences.”
Lin Li looked at Asta with a teasing gaze, causing the young girl’s pretty face to blush once more.
Of course, a female space station researcher with unique fashion preferences wasn’t enough to truly interest Lin Li.
What really caught his attention was—
The Astral Express!